1970: A nerdy looking little guy in glasses who would go on to become one of rock’s most outlandish stars, Elton John makes his solo debut on this day, as opening act for T. Rex and Spooky Tooth at the Roundhouse in London.

1963: Ricky Nelson marries girlfriend Kris Harmon, daughter of football great Tom Harmon and sister of actor Mark Harmon. She plays herself on the Nelson’s family sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett.

The marriage would last until 1982.

1982: Following up their successful one-off reunion on stage in NYC’s Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel begin their first reunion tour in Europe. Unfortunately, old tensions resurface and the duo split again before they can bring the tour to America.

Even worse, Paul Simon removes all of Art Garfunkel’s vocal tracks from an album the two had been recording and the project simply becomes a Paul Simon solo album.

1969: British pop singer Lulu (“To Sir with Love”) marries the Bee Gees Maurice Gibb at St. James Church in Buckinghamshire, England.

The marriage will last four years.

An unusually sad day for rock fans. On this day, we lost:

1960: Eddie Cochran

1983: Felix Pappalardi (Mountain)

1998: Linda McCartney

2008: Danny Federici (E Street Band)

1970: Jefferson Airplane front man Marty Balin is busted in a hotel room in Bloomington , Minnesota, after the police find him smoking marijuana and engaging in sexual activity with teenage girls. In other words, living the rock & roll dream.

1964: Taking a break from filming their first movie, given the working title Beatlemania!, the Beatles are relaxing when Ringo remarks that it really has been “a hard day’s night.” John Lennon immediately begins scribbling some lyrics on the back of a greeting card and by the next morning has a new song and the film has a new title: “A Hard Day’s Night.”

1960: Inspired by the actual induction of Elvis Presley into the army, the musical Bye Bye Birdie opens on Broadway. It would go on to run 607 performances and win a Tony award as Best Musical.

When Hollywood transfers it to the screen in 1963, they bring along Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde from the Broadway cast, but the material is reshaped to be more of a vehicle for young starlet Ann-Margaret.

1967: The Rolling Stones play their first gig behind the Iron Curtain. The band performs at a small concert venue in Warsaw, Poland. The location is quickly overrun by fans without tickets, prompting the police to respond with tear gas.

So a Soviet bloc country got its first taste of capitalist rock & roll and a capitalist rock & roll riot. Progress!

1966: In one of the creepiest coincidences in rock, Jan Berry of Jan & Dean crashes his Corvette near a stretch of L.A. road known as “Deadman’s Curve,” also immortalized in song by the duo just one year before.

Berry will require 4 years of therapy before he learns how to talk again and nearly a decade of therapy before he can perform again.